Withdrawal symptoms are hard to take. Perseverance through
discomfort comes easier if you know that it’s for a good reason, and you can see
that you are making progress.

Many marijuana users find that longtime heavy use compromises
thinking abilities. Fortunately, in most cases, thinking abilities return to a
normal level within a month or two of quitting.

Here’s a way to spin improvements in cognitive abilities (a
very good thing) into increased odds of staying quit (another very good thing):

A lot of people find quitting tough, especially when dealing
with lingering withdrawal symptoms, like insomnia.

To counteract some of the negatives (like the lingering
withdrawal symptoms…which you probably can’t avoid noticing) you should try to
focus on how quitting improves your life – such as by noticing specific
improvements in thinking abilities.

Unfortunately, we aren’t very good at noticing changes when
they occur very slowly or gradually (as opposed to withdrawal symptoms, which
come on very suddenly and noticeably).

If you pay more attention to how your cognitive abilities
improve over the first couple of months after quitting, you can use these
encouraging gains as motivation to continue your efforts.

To help you notice improvements, you should make a list
before you quit (or in the early days) of the very specific ways that marijuana
compromises your thinking abilities. Then revisit this list every week or so
after quitting, to evaluate your progress, and to underscore that your
improvements result from quitting marijuana.

To help you make this specific inventory, review the list you'll find below
of common cognitive side-effects and circle whichever
you identify with.

Cognitive Side Effects of Heavy Marijuana Use

Researchers at Lund University Hospital interviewed 400
heavy marijuana users to develop a list of cognitive deficits/complaints that
are associated with chronic serious use.1

Has your marijuana habit diminished your intellectual
capacity?

To find out and to create a framework for monitoring improvements
after you quit, circle any of the following which apply to you. Then, over
time, as you maintain marijuana abstinence, revisit this list to see how much
improvement you’re making.

Note: This is a complete list of all cognitive symptoms reported
by a large pool of heavy users. It is very unlikely that all will apply to your
experience. Simply circle those that do (that you answer yes to) and disregard
those that do not.

Verbal Skills

Compared to your pre-marijuana days:

Are you less able to remember and use specific and precise
words?

Do find it more difficult to take an active part in
discussions going on around you?

Do other people have difficulty understanding what you’re
trying to express?

Do you have more difficulty understanding what other people
are trying to express to you?

Do you feel like you’re removed from others (as if you were
in a glass bottle)?

Do you find it more difficult to describe your feelings?

Memory

Compared to your pre-marijuana days:

Are you more likely to forget meetings and appointments or
commitments you’ve made?

Do you have a harder time remembering your past?

Do you have more difficulty estimating the passage of time?

Do you find it harder to remember the plot of a book or
movie as it unfolds?

Cognitive Flexibility

Compared to your pre-marijuana days:

Do you have more difficulty maintaining comlex ideas in
your head during a discussion?

Is it harder to stay focused or to concentrate for long
period of time?

Once you get focused on one thing is it harder to suddenly
shift your focus to something else?

Do you have a harder time understanding other people’s
viewpoints?

Do you find that you talk TO other people rather than talk WITH
other people?

Learning and Using Information

Compared to your pre-marijuana days:

Are you more likely to keep making the same mistakes over
and over again?

Are you less able to assess your own behaviors and see where
you’re going wrong in life?

Are you less able to find appropriate solutions to problems you’re
having?

Do you care less about life-mistakes you make?

Do you feel more like a failure than you used to?

Analytic-Synthetic Ability

Compared to your pre-marijuana days:

Have you become more rigid in your opinions or in expectations
of others?

Do you have more difficulty sorting between important and
extraneous information?

Do you have more trouble classifying information correctly?

Do you have more difficulty interpreting nuance and shades
of grey within information?

Time-Space Abilities

Compared to your pre-marijuana days:

Do you have more difficulty creating routines?

Do find it more difficult to structure your day?

Do you find you notice relations between others less than
you used to?

Focusing on Improvements

After quitting, revisit this list every week or so, and
think about what progress/if any, you’ve made on specific items since quitting.

You should find, by about 6 weeks or so, that you’ve made
dramatic improvements in problem areas. The trick is in managing to stay quit
for long enough to reach this 6 week milestone!

When withdrawal symptoms get intense and when you start
feeling stressed or bored, it’s easy to fall back to familiar patterns of
getting high. By paying attention to the specific improvements you make during
initial recovery, you can enhance your motivation to persevere and increase your odds of long term
success!

Helpful Reading:

Thinking about giving up marijuana but not sure you’re ready to take the plunge? Well, here are 70 benefits of quitting – all first-hand accounts from previously heavy users about how life changes for the better once you don’t need to get high all the time.

One of the most difficult aspects of quitting a heavy marijuana habit is the insomnia that often plagues that first week or so. Although in time you can expect to sleep better naturally, struggling with insomnia during those first days of withdrawal can sometimes derail good attempts at abstinence with a relapse born of frustration and a need to sleep! While there aren’t yet any medications approved to treat marijuana insomnia, you can take some steps to get a better night’s rest. Learn more here…